In many criminal justice systems, parole is the supervised release of a prisoner before the completion of their sentence in prison. Overpopulation of prison systems, along with budget cutbacks at the state and federal level highlight the need for effective parole systems. Parole systems provide a further benefit to society by permitting parolees to gradually be reintroduced into free society. For this reason, some criminal justice systems enforce an additional mandatory parole period after a prisoner has been released. There are other types of parole, such as medical parole or compassionate release which may be appropriate for releasing prisoners for medical or humanitarian reasons.
Parolees are often subject to various restrictions in conduct such as refraining from drug and alcohol use, avoiding contact with the parolee's victims, obtaining employment, and maintaining required contacts with a parole officer. Often, parolees must agree to these restrictions while they are prisoners as a condition of their release. These restrictions are often intended as a way to limit the risk of recidivism.
While the various restrictions above are helpful in limiting recidivism, further restrictions, along with a system for tracking, communicating with, and controlling parolees may lead to expansion and increased effectiveness of parole systems.